Yearbook 2013 The Lakes

www.nationaltrust.org.uk/get-involved/

Fairbridge, Nor moss, October 2013

High Wray

Basecamp

Welcome to High Wray Basecamp’s 2013 yearbook Nestled in its own private wooded grounds, High Wray is the National Trust’s full time volunteer centre in the Lake District. We’re proud to be an integral part of the South Lakes property, a gloriously diverse area that covers everything from lakeshore to high fell. Our area includes famous beauty spots like Tarn Hows and Windermere lake, Beatrix Potter’s house Hill Top and even a castle. With 15 working farms and a wonderful network of paths linking all this together that’s a lot of land to look after! That’s where we come in. We’re here to help and this year we’ve worked closer than ever before with the rest of our ranger team to keep our beautiful countryside in tip top condition. Amongst many things we’ve tackled path erosion in the fells with the upland path team, helped our woodland ranger remove invasive species and rebuild walls, refreshed access paths for area rangers and worked with the South Lakes property interns. 2013 has really reinforced how a happy and motivated group of volunteers can be a great resource for getting important work done.

But it’s about more than just completing work – Since opening in 1969 the High Wray ethos has been that volunteers should get as much out of working with us as we do from them, something that still holds true today. We aim to help people feel that they’ve contributed something towards a beautiful place, learnt some new skills and had some fun doing it! We believe that there’s no such thing as a ‘typical volunteer’ and this yearbook aims to show the variety of people it’s been our privilege to work with over the last year, as well as to say a very big thank you to each and every one of them. We’d have a much harder job looking after our fantastic area without your help - we look forward to seeing many of you again in 2014!

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There’s not enough room to fit everything into this yearbook so why not keep up with what’s happening at High Wray by checking our Facebook page? We post regular stories and pictures about the different groups we work with, places we’ve been and wildlife we’ve seen as well as those odd little events that just

can’t be categorised!

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Hill Top Tarn Hows

With such a diverse and interesting area there’s al-ways something happening in the South Lakes. Why not try visiting: http://beatrixpotterspatch.blogspot.co.uk/; for the lat-est from Hill Top. http://www.countryside-catchup.blogspot.co.uk/ for weekly reports on what our ranger team have been up to. Wray castle also has its own Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/NTWrayCastle

Wray Castle

At High Wray we aim to build long term partnerships with the organisations that we work with. By doing this we gain a better understanding of what they want to get out of working with us and they make the most of their visits here. We think that the fact many of our groups come back year on year is a testament to the success of this approach and we’re always trying to build on and improve these relationships.

Partnerships - some examples

Cumbria Mind A national mental health charity; we’ve been working with Mind since the ‘Out There’ project in 2009. As part of this and with the support of Fix the Fells, the Barrow branch started monthly visits to Basecamp to take part in conservation work. When ‘Out There’ ended we got together with them and National Trust rangers at Sandscale Haws to continue the work days. Now Mind visit both us and Sandscale monthly and also come here for an overnight stay in the summer. www.mind.org.uk

TTP (Trust the Process) Formerly known as Inward House and founded in 1978 in Lancaster to provide residential rehabilitation for people recovering from drug problems, Inward House has developed to become one of the major voluntary sector drug service providers in the North West. Similarly to LHTC they give us some of our most rewarding weeks work all year. Sian, a support worker said, “There’s no computers, no distractions and they’ve really come together as a community. The benefit of coming here is massive and I think it’s a big part of their treatment programme. You’re seeing a side to them that you wouldn’t normally see in a town and I’m hoping they can take a little bit of Basecamp back with them”. http://www.trusttheprocess.org/

Littledale Hall Therapeutic Community (LHTC) Littledale Hall is a therapeutic community providing services to people over 18 whose lives have been adversely affected by their substance misuse. Littledale Hall offers a safe, supportive environment within which people can address emotional, psychological, and social issues linked to their substance misuse. Andy Nardonne, a support worker at Littledale said “We’re about helping people with drug and alcohol problems move back into communities drug and alcohol free. It’s about putting back because we all take so much in one way or another. It’s really important.” We’ve been working with Littledale Hall for many years now and always look forward to their visits as they get so much out of their time working with us. As well as residentials, they also visit us for individual days once a month. www.littledalehalltc.co.uk

Fairbridge, Tyne & Wear Working out of 15 inner city centres in the UK, Fairbridge is a national charity supporting young people aged 13-25 to develop the confidence, motivation and skills they need to turn their lives around. They’re now part of the Prince’s Trust. Colin Jeffrey, Fairbridge staff member said, “We’re working with the National Trust as part of a work based skills programme to help our young people understand what it is to have a job, the benefits, what’s tough about having a job and to get them thinking about where they want to move on to and what they want to do with their lives”. In 2013 the Tyne and Wear branch visited us twice and were joined by the Teeside branch for their second visit. The two branches working together gives us a bigger work force and is great for expanding the young people’s horizons and this is something both branches are already booked in to repeat in 2014. www.fairbridge.org.uk

Kendal College Students from the college on the Level 3 Diploma in Sport (Outdoor Adventure) course have been coming once a month to learn about practical conservation work. In 2013 the students split for the third year running, with the first years visiting us once a month while the second years worked in more detail with us and our property’s upland footpath team. This helped them gain a deeper understanding and sense of owner-ship of the work. Course tutor Steve Randles said, “It’s helped them understand the importance of the environment and how outdoor adventure can impact on the local environment within the Lake District. While out on practical sessions students are now more aware of the impact they have and often comment on the environmental damage and how they can minimise this thanks to the work they have been doing with the National Trust.”

Basecamp Heroes! While we work on a partnership basis with many different organisations, we’re very aware that we’d never get half as much done if it wasn’t for some very dedicated individuals. In the last couple of yearbooks we’ve said thanks to many of these ‘Basecamp Heroes’, but look out for more this time. We’d like to say a big thank you to them for all the effort they put into to making 2013 another brilliant year. We’re looking forward to working with all these people in 2014!

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High Wray is supported by Fix the Fells, a long term partnership between the National Trust and other organisations with an interest in combating erosion problems in the uplands, including the National Park Authority, Natural England and Friends of the Lake District. To find out more about Fix the Fells go to www.fixthefells.co.uk - you could even get involved yourself!

What a site! Upland adventure holiday camping.

The scenery’s great, honest!

Kirklees College enjoy learning about teamwork.

This year lots of different volunteer groups helped on the path from Blea Tarn to Wrynose Pass, a complicated job involving a number of other organisations such as Cumbria Wildlife Trust and Windermere Reflections. The upland camping adventure holiday was on the highest site yet, spending three rather windy nights at Ore Gap and working to reduce a large erosion scar during the days. Finally, there was another big job above the Langdale valley – see page 5. All of this work was completed with the help of the brilliant South Lakes upland path team. Thanks guys!

Kendal College second years had some very wet weather as well as some very big rocks to move ...

The people who came to the Basecamp have never had the opportunity to get away to places like the Lake District. It has given us all the chance to put something back into life instead of just taking something out.’ Brentwood House volunteer

4 Brentwood House get it just right ...

Basecamp Hero! For the last four years Gillian Overend has organised and led West Runton’s two week stay at Basecamp. Her patience, enthusiasm and calm demeanour are an example to all the young people that come on their holidays and certainly helped us all get through some very mixed weather.

Thanks to Di Lang, working holiday leader for these three pictures

The lengthsmen The lengthsmen are a dedicated group of hard working volunteers who help Fix the Fells look after the Lake District’s special landscape. Since starting in 2007 they’ve gone from strength to strength and in 2013 they contributed an amazing 1432 volunteer days. 868 of these days were spent on ‘drain runs’ on our upland paths,

helping keep water drainage clear, block off short cuts and report on developing problems. This maintenance work is of crucial importance to keeping our paths in good condition, but the lengthsmen’s contribution doesn’t end there. The other 564 days were spent helping to run events and taking part in work parties to tackle more complicated jobs alongside NT rangers. This year one of the biggest work parties ever took on a particularly large job above the Langdale valley …..

www.fixthefells. co.uk has lots more information, including how to get involved!

Before …. … and after.

Digging the new path line

‘Borrow pit’ for the path surface material.

An army of lengthsmen worked with us for three days on Stake Pass, where a large area had become badly eroded as walkers tried to avoid muddy patches. Using sheep wool as a base, which ‘floats’ on the peaty ground, we put in a new path that will stand up to the level of use and help protect the surrounding land from trampling feet. Turf we dug out was used to re-landscape the old erosion, making an amazing difference in a short time.

Path team supervisor Ian gives a master-class in re-landscaping a borrow pit ...

Laying the sheep wool path base - and finding other uses for it …!

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Two different sites on the xmas work days meant even more work got completed!

Basecamp was also proud to host the Lengthsmen’s xmas party for the fourth year running. Two days work with us and the South, North and West Lakes path teams culminated in a slap up feast on Saturday night. Cheers!

Two on one, one on two …. Drystone walls are an integral part of the Cumbrian landscape and rebuilding them is a fascinating skill to learn. As part of the Windermere Reflections project we spent most of our walling time this year on the Red Nab bridleway, right next to the shores of Windermere itself. It’s a popular path so the pressure was on for our walls to look good!

Don’t look now! Walkers pass the work site, unusually not asking any questions ….

First group on the Red Nab wall was a National Trust working holiday ….

Working Holidays are a great way to find out about many aspects of our work and meet some new people at the same time. If you’d like to join in, go to www.nationaltrust.org.uk and click on the ‘holidays’ tab to find out how to get

involved!

The Fix the Fells lengthsmen finished the Tock How wall, started last year, before moving on to the Red Nab wall.

South Lakes Conservation Group putting the final ‘cam’ stones on.

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Kendal College first year students get to grips with foundation stones.

More green woodworkMore green woodwork

The first day felling trees and shaping ‘Transoms’ in a local woodland.

Some bad weather meant using Basecamp as a workshop. Lots of hoovering after this!

Using the shave horse.

‘Barn raising’ on the last day!

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The roof on a few weeks later - it has sides now too!

After 2012’s successful construction of a new woodshed at Basecamp, 2013 saw our second green woodwork working holiday with our very knowledgeable woodland ranger, Richard. This time we built a new bin shed for Wray Castle, which may not sound too glamorous, but it was very much needed. Access requirements mean that it has to be close to the castle’s front door, so it had to look really good - a perfect challenge for this very skilful holiday!

Outdoors and close to nature We’re very proud of the work that we do with volunteers, but there’s a lot more to time spent here than just working. We’re in a lovely private spot, surrounded by woodland and with great views of the fells. Because it’s so quiet we get all sorts of wildlife here and our bird feeders are always busy. As many of our groups have rarely been to the country-side, a visit to High Wray can often be the first time they’ve seen sights like these - memories we think will stay with them for a long time.

Some of the groups who come to High Wray gain recognition of their experiences and their contribution towards the conservation of wild places through the John Muir award. The award can help those who participate to gain a better understanding and appreciation of how their with us is more than just working and how their contribution fits into the bigger picture. A famous quote from John Muir sums it up: ‘When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe’. This year TTP, Littledale Hall, Brentwood House and Fairbridge all gained the award through their week with us. www.johnmuiraward.org

A fantastic wood wasp - don’t worry, they might look scary but are totally harmless.

Small frog, big smile!

Stag’s horns? Or just some sticks … TTP can’t decide!

A Littledale Hall volunteer meets the locals.

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The ‘Out There’ project was all about recognising the benefits that people get from being in the natural environment. It’s great that we could continue providing these opportunities for the Barrow branch of Mind after the project finished. Pictured are Mind helping our woodlands by removing old tree tubes and planting new trees.

Squirrels on film! For many who stay at High Wray, seeing one of the local red squirrels is a real highlight. To see them yourself search for NTsouth-lakesTV on Youtube, where you’ll find the Basecamp Squirrels short film. Cute!

Bashing the invaders!

We’d like to say thanks to all these other groups who also helped us tackle the invaders: Manchester, Chester, Northumberland and Merseyside National Trust volunteers, Brathay Trust, Fairbridge, the Fix the Fells Lengthsmen, West Runton, Thameside Rangers and Ford.

Rhododendron is a familiar plant to many. It’s big showy flowers look great in parks and gardens, but it’s not so good in our woodlands where it out-competes our native plants and takes over entirely. No native plants means a very poor habitat for our native animals too. So, in 2013, as part of a three year plan to improve our woodlands, we’ve been removing these invaders by the traditional method - cutting them down and burning them. We also removed more Himalayan Balsam, another aggressive invasive species.

This work is also supported by Windermere Reflections. Water quality is linked closely to soil quality and removing invasive species can have a positive effect.

Littledale Hall (left) and TTP (right) both brought huge numbers of volunteers, really helping us push on with the seemingly never ending rhododendron.

Preston College pile it on ...

West Runton with quite a pile to chop up! Glenburn students team up to deal

with a big rhodie branch

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Basecamp Hero! Bringing a great sense of fun and hu-mour Peter James brings students from Glenburn Sports College for a conservation week as part of their work experience. Over the years we’ve worked with Peter he’s always commanded lots of respect from the students and goes out of his way to help ensure they get the most from their week with us.

Clear paths and new trees ….

Kendal college lost in a sea of tree tubes.

South Lakes conservation group using the post knocker

Part of the Windermere Catchment Restoration Program, Windermere Reflections is a three year project running from 2011 - 14. Large parts of the project relate to access and water quality, which can often generate work ideal for volunteers. Two examples of this came towards the end of 2013 where we helped plant over 2500 new trees and also gave a very popular path a make-over …...

Lakes School students with a newly planted juniper at Nor Moss. We’ve removed Spruce from here for years so it was nice to be putting something in for once!

One of our newer partnerships, Shardale is a residential centre for people recovering from alcohol abuse problems. They got the work on the path off to a flying start with a week’s work in November. At the end of this

some of their comments show how working with us gave benefits not just for the path, but for the people building it too: ‘Being an alcoholic in recovery, living a life of chaos, isolating. Visiting Basecamp has given me just a little taste of life and working as a team. I feel peaceful and humble.’ …… ‘We might all live together but it can be hectic and stressful at times. It was nice to all mix together be it working or just chilling and all at peace with ourselves.’ …… ‘It made me appreciate how much physical work actually goes into constructing walkways we normally take for granted.’

Over the years the main access path to Beatrix Potter’s house, Hilltop, had become very overgrown and narrow. It needed refreshing, but being busy and very narrow we had to wait until after the main visitor season to do it. With the help of the South Lake’s property interns Kim, Leila and Stuart we started with a really big volunteer group, Shardale.

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Littledale Hall

‘I helped restore some pathway which was brilliant to think that I was doing something thousands of people would benefit from. Thanks for such an uplifting experience.’ ‘I have learnt that regardless of age or perhaps limited physical mobility you can still take part and you will feel such a good sense of achievement.’ ‘Lovely surroundings and peace and quiet. I will never forget it, my dream come true.’ - Littledale Hall volunteers

South Lakes conservation group finished the final stretch

Chester NT volunteers

Extras!

Early on in the year we finally finished the Wray Bay path. We’d worked on this for most of 2012 and Princes’ Trust groups from Brathay Hall and Fairbridge helped put the finishing touches to it.

Landing party! Brathay had good enough weather they could arrive by boat!

With so much going on at High Wray we’re always left with more stories!

‘I was able to boost my confidence and put my leadership skills into practice, which really helped me in terms of self belief.’ Fairbridge volunteer

Basecamp Hero! This year was the first time we worked with the Princes’ Trust group from Cumbria Fire and Rescue service, brought by Dave Peers. His willingness to muck in, talk through any problems and most of all have fun with the group were a great example of how a good leader can help make a positive difference to our work days. We’re looking forward to 2014’s dates with CFRS!

‘A bit of my old spirit, confidence and determination returned to me, which has given me the self belief that I could function sober.’ ‘Saw my first Red Squirrels, loved watching the Blue Tits and other birds feed.’ ‘I have learnt how to appreciate nature and the countryside - haven’t experienced anything like this before.’ TTP volunteers

TTP worked with us for a week at Low Wray campsite, putting in new paths to protect the surrounding woodland.

Thameside Rangers spent two days working with us and also very kindly made a donation to Basecamp, something they’ve done now for many years. Thanks for such a generous gift!

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At the start of the year the second ‘Basecamp Blitz’ saw 10 volunteers do a splendid job of painting, sewing and DIY (ing?) in both blocks, giving Basecamp a brilliant spruce up for the new season.

Additional special thanks to Sue Clough for her seamstress skills as well as donating materials

High Wray Basecamp Community Ranger and Assistant Ranger roles are supported by Fix the Fells www.fixthefells.co.uk

Basecamp staff team 2013

National Trust High Wray Basecamp High Wray Ambleside Cumbria LA22 0JE

Tel 015394 34633

Longland Block

Acland Block

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www.nationaltrust.org.uk

Registered Charity No 205846

Search under ‘High Wray Basecamp and Bunkhouse NT’

and ‘like’ our site!

Jamie Preston Rob Clarke

Ranger, Volunteers Community Ranger

Phillipa Barber

Assistant Ranger (incoming)

Clair Payne

Assistant Ranger (outgoing)

31%

20%10%

10%

9%

6%

6%

4%4%

387 days Rhoddie bashing

254 upland path work

132 days lowland pathwork

121 days drystone walling

118 days misc tasks

79 days Basecamp tasks

72 days removinginvasive/foreign species

54 days tree planting

48 days green woodwork

We’d like to say a very special thank you to Mrs Lumley for your continued support and to Mr Garratt for all your generous help over the year. It means a lot to us.

In 2013 volunteers contributed 1316 days of work with us in the South Lakes. Here’s a breakdown of what they did …….